Issue of waste management in rural areas likely to arise in Lok Sabha elections

Punjab: Despite announcements and tall claims regarding solid waste management in villages, till date nothing is visible on the ground. Piles of garbage on rural roads irritate pedestrians. There is no village in the district where the government has provided any infrastructure for solid waste management. Villagers are forced to throw their garbage on footpaths and roadside green belts outside the villages.

The district has a total of 750 villages with 2,50,895 houses. According to government data, 376.34 metric tons of garbage is generated daily from the villages of the district. However, there is no disposal of waste which includes dry and wet waste. Dirty footpaths can be seen along the roads all around the district. Despite the announcements of previous governments, no adequate arrangements have been made for garbage collection and dumping in the rural areas of the district.
Under the District Environment Management Plan 2021, the district administration had planned to arrange garbage collection vehicles in all 750 villages. The deadline for arranging the remaining vehicles is October 31, 2026.
The District Environment Management Plan 2021 suggests directing Gram Panchayats to ensure segregation, collection, storage and transportation of plastic waste and to channelize the fraction of recyclable plastic waste to recyclers with valid registration. Should be issued. The administration asked to implement the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directions for disposal of plastic waste in villages. In March 2022, the district administration issued instructions to gram panchayats through block development officers for the implementation of the scheme. But, the instructions have not been implemented in even a single village of the district.
“Candidates going to contest the Lok Sabha elections will visit villages in the next two months. They can see government indifference towards the heaps of garbage lying on the rural roads outside every village. Social activist Kuljeet Singh said, like cities, every village should have proper waste management.